...Last night we "inventoried" the condiments in the fridge door shelves. Between the large number of asian style sauces, salsas, pepper sauces, jams/jellies, capers, pickles, olives, relish, chtuney, and mustards, we have about 40 items. And none were things that won't get used. Maybe not weekly but they'll all be used up before they expire. And all of my friends and relatives fridges are similar if they do a lot of home cooking.

Are we just condiment crazy?

Of the people in Germany I knew well enough to hang out in their kitchen, they didn't store the condiments in the fridge. The containers were smaller, and they might not have kept as well out of the fridge. But they kept.

An analogy. I like to bake bread. Now that I have an upright freezer, I store my flour in there. It keeps better, but I don't really need to do that.

American appliances are in general a lot bigger, I think. I remember that on our first family trip to Disney World, we stayed in a cabin on the campsite. The stove was bigger than a regular stove would be here—the standard size here would be 60cm wide, and the one in the cabin was at least 70cm by my reckoning.

I've noticed that about US cookers too. Also that the hob rings on the top are a lot further apart than they are on our UK ones - I guess that's because the oven is bigger.

One discussion I've seen on another board is that Europeans are more likely to buy UHT milk--that shelf-stable stuff that doesn't need ot be refrigerated until it's opened. During that discussion, I checked every supermarket I visit. None sold UHT milk, other than some organic milk, which was still kept in the refrigerated dairy section, because Americans expected milk to be cold. The Europeans n the discussion were surprised by the unpopularity of UHT in the US and someone expressed astonishment that anyone would buy a gallon (a bit less than 4 liters) of milk at a time and actually consume it before it went bad.

Americans who had tried UHT milk generally said that it tasted "cooked" and they did't like it.

For no particular reason, I became fascinated with the analyses of why the UK supermarket giant Tesco failed with their Fresh & Easy stores in the US. There were many mistakes made, but one was that Tesco assumed that Americans would shop more often. In their research, they also missed the fact that Americans liked to stock up when things were on sale. In their research, they didn't notice that shopping during sales to fill the relatively large freezer space was common in the US.

For no particular reason, I became fascinated with the analyses of why the UK supermarket giant Tesco failed with their Fresh & Easy stores in the US. There were many mistakes made, but one was that Tesco assumed that Americans would shop more often. In their research, they also missed the fact that Americans liked to stock up when things were on sale. In their research, they didn't notice that shopping during sales to fill the relatively large freezer space was common in the US.

This is why I whine about having a 18 cubic foot refrigerator, even though it's just me here. I often buy a month's worth of yogurt, eggs, or sealed lunch meat when there is a good sale. The expiration date gets written in large numbers, increasing the odds of it getting eaten before it gets icky. Saves about a third of the grocery bill, but I don't have room for large pots or chunks-o-meat.

I think it is the small kitchen size that leads to the frequent shopping. I had a friend who lived in Belgium for awhile. When they first got there they went to the grocery store. People commented that they must have a very large family. She said they quickly switched to frequent trips because their kitchen just couldn't hold it all.

My fridge is a bit small, about 80 cm tall. I think that it's pretty standard for smaller apartments here, but fridges twice the size aren't uncommon. My fridge is pretty empty most of the time, I don't cook much at the moment and even when I do I don't really use condiments. I only drink water and tea so I don't buy beverages and we don't usually have the sort of sales that make it worthwhile to buy huge amounts so usually there's only yoghurt, margarine and cheese there, maybe some eggs and a few random items like a syrup my friend made from young spruce needles and a bag of turnips that might have gone bad.

I'm in Finland and I don't think UHT milk is popular here. It's widely available but I don't know anyone who drinks it as it tastes funny. It used to be the only low lactose milk but fortunately that has changed.

Fresh milk in more popular in Oz than UHT -but UHT is still widely available.

UHT mostly comes in 1L cartons, and Gresh in 1, 2 and 3L cartons/jugs. Lots of people think UHT tastes funny. I don't. We drink it becuase its rare that we finish 1L before it goes off and we woulndn't know when to buy the new one - we'd constantly be short.

I think the UHT milk things varies a lot in different European countries (I think in general, food purchasing and shopping vary a lot) I'm in the UK and although you *can* buy UHT milk it's definitely not the norm - I have occasionally bought it (to have in the house when I got back from a holiday, for instance, or when staying on my BiL's fridge-less boat)

I think it is much more common in France (I don't like the taste, although I can live with it in coffee) an remember trying to choke down cornflakes (which my kind-hearted French hosts had purchased specially to make me feel at home) with UHT milk on them, to be polite. After the first 2 days I managed to persuade them that I would really, REALLY like to try the brioche and hot chocolate they were eating, please..

That said, I think the taste has improved in recent years. Last time I had some,I could taste the difference but it was a lot less "eeewww" than I remembered!

Fresh milk in more popular in Oz than UHT -but UHT is still widely available.

UHT mostly comes in 1L cartons, and Gresh in 1, 2 and 3L cartons/jugs. Lots of people think UHT tastes funny. I don't. We drink it becuase its rare that we finish 1L before it goes off and we woulndn't know when to buy the new one - we'd constantly be short.

It surprises me fresh is more popular in Oz. I lived there short term in a company apartment. The admin who did some fridge pre-stocking for my arrival made a point of saying she bought fresh milk for me since she knew Americans didn't normally like UHT. I always thought that meant fresh was unusual.

Fresh milk in more popular in Oz than UHT -but UHT is still widely available.

UHT mostly comes in 1L cartons, and Gresh in 1, 2 and 3L cartons/jugs. Lots of people think UHT tastes funny. I don't. We drink it becuase its rare that we finish 1L before it goes off and we woulndn't know when to buy the new one - we'd constantly be short.

It surprises me fresh is more popular in Oz. I lived there short term in a company apartment. The admin who did some fridge pre-stocking for my arrival made a point of saying she bought fresh milk for me since she knew Americans didn't normally like UHT. I always thought that meant fresh was unusual.

I suspect in that particular circumstance they normally stocked UHT in the apartment as it was simply easier for them not to have to keep such a close eye on the use by date.

One discussion I've seen on another board is that Europeans are more likely to buy UHT milk--that shelf-stable stuff that doesn't need ot be refrigerated until it's opened. During that discussion, I checked every supermarket I visit. None sold UHT milk, other than some organic milk, which was still kept in the refrigerated dairy section, because Americans expected milk to be cold. The Europeans n the discussion were surprised by the unpopularity of UHT in the US and someone expressed astonishment that anyone would buy a gallon (a bit less than 4 liters) of milk at a time and actually consume it before it went bad.

Americans who had tried UHT milk generally said that it tasted "cooked" and they did't like it.

For no particular reason, I became fascinated with the analyses of why the UK supermarket giant Tesco failed with their Fresh & Easy stores in the US. There were many mistakes made, but one was that Tesco assumed that Americans would shop more often. In their research, they also missed the fact that Americans liked to stock up when things were on sale. In their research, they didn't notice that shopping during sales to fill the relatively large freezer space was common in the US.

I have never known UHT milk to be popular here. There are only two reasons I have for getting UHT milk:

1. As backup, in case you accidentaly run out of actual milk2. For camping vacations where you don't have a fridge

Also, some things that are refrigerated here, like fruit, butter, and eggs, don't need chilling in the relatively cool climate of middle and northern Europe.

That had never ever occurred to me.

My fridge fits under the worktop and is built in with a door on the outside to match the rest of the kitchen units. It has three shelves, a couple of salad boxes under the bottom shelf and space in the door for storing eggs, milk bottles, etc. They're the most usual type of fridge you'd find here - American style fridges aren't common although you can get them.

'Big' fridges, ie, about 6 feet tall, are usually fridge freezers - half of it is a fridge and half a freezer, like this:

Lots of people have those.

Mine are separate - I have an under-worktop freezer the same size as my fridge with three drawers in it.

This picture is very similar to what we have, except it only has three drawers in the freezer-section, rather than four. I live in a house share of 4 people and we don't share any groceries (so there's 4 sets of milk, margarine, etc. going at the same time) as well as whatever else we put in there. We still have plenty of room left over though, enough that we managed to fit half a wedding cake in there once.

My parents have one of a similar size for just the two of them, but they also have a big chest freezer in the shed. They grow so much fruit and veg in the garden they can't eat it fast enough so need to freeze it before it goes off, then they spread it out over the winter.

OK, this just stuns me. One reason I'm curious about this is my DH and I are discussing building a weekend/future retirement home and plan to make it as energy efficient as possible. One suggestion we've received is about downsizing appliances. While I'm happy to do so for the dishwasher, washing machine and dryer, I'm having a difficult time with the fridge.

Last night we "inventoried" the condiments in the fridge door shelves. Between the large number of asian style sauces, salsas, pepper sauces, jams/jellies, capers, pickles, olives, relish, chtuney, and mustards, we have about 40 items. And none were things that won't get used. Maybe not weekly but they'll all be used up before they expire. And all of my friends and relatives fridges are similar if they do a lot of home cooking.

Are we just condiment crazy?

try looking for a condo or apartment sized fridge. They tend to be a bit narrower to take up less space visually in the kitchen.